Shipyard construction, Cameroon
Douala is the economic capital of Cameroon. The Cameroon Shipyard & Industrial Engineering Ltd. (CNIC) company, with a shipyard in the city’s port, was unable to take full advantage of the Gulf of Guinea’s quickly growing oil production industry due to its limited shipbuilding capacity. The main reasons were the insufficient water depth (draught) for the building of big ships and the lack of space for an extension. These natural and spatial constraints, combined with the growing needs of the oil production industry, led to the planning of a new shipyard close to the town of Limbé, approximately 80 km north of Douala. The plans include the construction of a 700 m-long rubble mound breakwater, the construction of a 400 m-long blockwork quay wall, 280,000 m3 of excavation, 770,000m3 of land reclamation and the construction of complete infrastructure (roads, houses, halls, workshops, etc.).